


Alizarin Crimson

by oilpainter



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Schönberg/Boublil, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Angst, Assault, Blood, Christmas, Hurt Jean Prouvaire, Hurt/Comfort, I wrote this years ago, I'm Sorry, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Injury, It's Courfeyrac's Fault, M/M, Mentions of Period-Typical Racism, Montparnasse Being an Asshole, Murder, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Pre-Revolution, Revolutionaries In Love, Sad, Sad Ending, Sorry Jehan, Stabbing, Tragedy, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:15:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22681576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oilpainter/pseuds/oilpainter
Summary: Courfeyrac has messed up. Being involved with a gang member has its consequences - and one of those is that Montparnasse has gone after Jean Prouvaire in the name of revenge.(Posted on fanfiction.net under the same username but a different title)
Relationships: Courfeyrac/Jean Prouvaire, Past Courfeyrac/Montparnasse
Kudos: 5





	1. Mercy's hand hath taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hush! Seal ye up  
> Your gushing tears, for Mercy's hand hath shaken  
> Her earth-bonds off, and from her lip hath taken  
> Grief's bitter cup"  
> \- After Witnessing A Death-Scene, George W. Sands

**December, 1831**

Saturday evenings at the Café Musain were always a rowdy, boisterous affair. Many Parisians worked six days a week on 10 hour shifts and so there were often more customers on Saturday nights, who would drink (often in excess) and generally cause a noisy rabble (which usually resulted in being kicked out onto the street). Les Amis de l'ABC didn't tend to be a part of this noisy rabble, however today seemed to be an exception.

There was one week left until Christmas.

Although the Amis varied in their religiousness – Courfeyrac was a particularly devout Christian, while Enjolras stayed stubbornly atheist to rebel against his father – they all celebrated Christmas for one main reason.

Jean Prouvaire.

Every year Jehan would work himself up into a frenzy buying all of his friends presents, decorating the tree and making everyone feel as festive as he could. He would write poems about snow, sing carols by the fire with Feuilly, and no one would have the heart to tell him he was being a bit over the top.

Enjolras would grumble occasionally, expressing that 'it's all a capitalist money-making scheme' and 'we need to spend this valuable time planning the January protest' and 'I don't even believe in Jesus,' to which Courfeyrac would scowl, put an arm around a disheartened Prouvaire, and argue 'You need to relax a little. Yule is a great time of the year, and it doesn't have to be about a baby in a stable – it's about friends and family, and giving.'

Grantaire would then proceed to top up Enjolras' drink with whiskey, and the festivities would from then on be a little less tense.

On this particular Saturday, it was now past the point where everyone had exchanged gifts and sung a drunken verse of Happy Birthday to Joly, whose 23rd was to be on Monday. Musichetta gave him a rather passionate kiss after the last 'happy birthday to you,' and so did an intoxicated Bossuet, to which Joly turned bright red and pulled them both into a hug. Then he complained a bit about their unsanitary sharing of saliva but soon quieted when Jehan came over to hug him and weave some mistletoe into his hair.

The loudest part of the night was at 1am, when Marius and Enjolras were in a heated debate regarding upper class privilege, Bossuet and Grantaire were violently arm wrestling (resulting in a glass being pushed off the table and shattering), and Combeferre and Courfeyrac were engaged in the world's loudest chess match. Courfeyrac was shouting at the unfairness because he couldn't cope with the fact that Combeferre always won. It was chaotic.

Now let it be known that Jean Prouvaire was a fairly sociable person. He was never the first to leave a social gathering because he loved his friends and he felt it would be rude if he did so. However, Jehan was also a French Literature student in his first year at university and had been up every night for the past week or so writing essays for his overdue coursework, trying to finish it all before the holiday. Furthermore, he was the youngest of the friend group (excluding the street urchin Gavroche), at only 19 years old, so being a teenager he was quite fond of sleep. Not to mention he had a killer headache.

So, aiming to get a decent night's sleep, he notified a frustrated Courfeyrac of his departure. Courfeyrac looked a little disappointed yet still worried. Being closer to the law student than he had been all night, Jehan noticed the dark bags under his eyes which he hadn't seen before, and a purple bruise which was peeking out above his collar. What had happened there? "Wait – Jehan," he said, swiftly grabbing the poet's arm as he pulled his coat and hat on, ready to leave. Courf furrowed his eyebrows. "Be careful, mon ami," he continued in a low voice, "the streets of Paris are dangerous in the early hours of the morning, you need to be aware at all times. Trust me, I speak from experience."

Combeferre nodded seriously in agreement, still plotting the checkmate of Courfeyrac's king. It seemed that Courfeyrac, even in his drunken state, still had common sense, good advice, and the capability to care for others. The law student winked, returning to his mischievous self. "Et Joyeux Noël, Prouvaire."

He shouted in outrage upon turning back to the chessboard and seeing that Combeferre had taken his queen. Courf turned to Jehan to ask him to back him up, but the poet had already left.

Jehan made his quick escape into the cold December night, his head pounding painfully, even worse than before. He sighed and shoved his freezing hands into the pockets of his jacket. It was snowing – the beautiful white crystals drifted down, landing in his strawberry blond hair and melting on his tongue when he held it out. The whole street was coated in a layer of white and the snow crunched under his feet when he walked.

It was beautiful – but deadly.

Before this year, Jehan used to write artful poems inspired by winter and the festive season, about the purity and cleanliness of the snow which fell from the heavens, and the warm feeling of entering a cosy café or house with a fire burning in the chimney. He'd write about the snow melting to reveal apple blossom, baby sheep and a new start – he'd write until his wrists ached.

Now all that was on his mind was the poor, the widowed women desperately trying to feed themselves on scraps of leftovers and the charity of others, the malnourished children losing hope and shivering in dark alleyways, and the dead bodies of the very people that Les Amis fought for, staring emptily at the sky, having either frozen or starved to death. Unlike last year when Jehan wrote naïve, petty poems about snow, now he wrote about the people he was trying to save. This year he had met Les Amis, this year he had a conscience. And he would fight with his friends until the very end, using both his masterful words and force if necessary.

Jehan was ready for a fight.

Upon turning the corner into a less lit, slightly sketchy-looking street which was unfortunately on his route back to his apartment, the poet heard a whimper from an alley between two houses. The sound was so quiet that he almost missed it.

Someone, or something, was in pain. He couldn't just ignore that. If it was a stray cat, he couldn't leave it to die. If it was a street urchin, he couldn't just leave them to suffer. So Jehan's conscience got the better of him. This street was a known place where the infamous Patron-Minette gang frequented, and the crime levels were high, so the student approached cautiously, trying to silently tread on the snow towards the alley. He looked down the alley, eyes still adjusting to the dark, and spotted someone curled up by the wall between the bins, wearing ragged, torn clothes and sobbing.

Jehan went closer, leaving footprints in the fresh snow behind him. "Mademoiselle?" he whispered gently, for indeed as the person looked up he saw it was a young woman. She had dark skin and very frizzy long hair which looked uncontrollably messy and tangled and concealed most of her face. The girl was unhealthily thin, and Jehan fleetingly thought that if he touched her wrist she might break. His heart clenched at the thought, and he knew that, despite her wise, haunted eyes, she couldn't have been any older than him. She was still just barely a child, perhaps sixteen or seventeen. "Are you hurt, mademoiselle?"

The girl flinched and nodded hesitantly, clutching at what was maybe a serious wound on her chest. "S'il vous plaît, monsieur," she gasped, voice trembling. "L-leave me to die in peace."

Prouvaire was not the type of person to leave an innocent dying in an alleyway, alone and in pain. "No," he said firmly. "I refuse it. I can help you; I have friends who are studying medicine, if you would just let me take you to them–"

The young woman made a terrible sound which was like a mixture of a moan, gasp and sob. She took in a deep breath and Jehan saw that her hands were shaking. He wasn't surprised – her clothing was partly missing (he could guess the reason why but didn't really want to think about such an awful thing) and the temperature must have been in the negatives. "You are... too late," she whispered, and moved her hands away from the wound which she had been applying pressure to. And then Jehan saw the blood. She was right. He was too late.

Never had he seen so much blood before.

It poured, a deadly scarlet colour, faster than the red wine downed by Grantaire on Friday evenings.

Jehan fell to his knees in front of her, his heart beating fast with adrenaline. He took one of the girl's trembling hands in his own. She grasped it tightly like it was her lifeline. And it may well have been. With his other hand he unwound his scarf, ignoring the sudden chill on his neck, and carefully applied pressure on what looked like a nasty cut.

"You're going to be fine," he murmured, kissing her head and tucking her messy hair behind her ears. "J-just breathe for me, and don't close your eyes."

The girl whimpered in response but still smiled peacefully. Her eyelashes were now fluttering and Jehan couldn't help but think that she looked like an angel with the snowflakes sparkling on her dark eyelashes.

"What's your name?" he asked softly, voice cracking. _Don't cry_ , he told himself. _Be strong for her. Then you can cry_.

Taking in a shaky breath, she replied so quietly that Prouvaire had to strain his ears. "My name is Estelle."

Jehan smiled gently. "That's a beautiful name, just like you."

Most men would not have called Estelle beautiful, but Jehan was not most men. True, perhaps she looked awful with her tangled hair and dirty clothes, and by most peoples' standards she could not be considered attractive because of her dark skin tone, but in Jehan's eyes she was perfect. He could tell that she was incredibly brave, good and innocent despite all the wrongdoings that had happened to her. And he knew that this unfortunate soul would be the subject of his poems for many years to come. Life had ruined her, but she stayed strong.

"Merci, monsieur," she said, and winced from the immense pain.

"Mine is Jean Prouvaire, but I chose the name Jehan for I am a romantic at heart," he murmured, and tenderly squeezed her hand. "I write poetry and study French Literature. I used to write about the snow and Christmas, or the beautiful lavender fields of Provence and the ancient stone cottages in my home town… but now I write about the poor and the pain I see in their eyes. My professor tells me my words are dangerous and would not be accepted by the public so I publish my ones about snow and lavender – but in reality I wish to speak my words to the world so I may achieve equal rights for everyone with mes amis."

Jehan was very much aware of the fact he was now rambling and that Estelle wasn't listening much. But he wanted to comfort her in what was likely her last moments. He couldn't save her so he wanted to give her the only thing he was able to give her: hope.

She was now breathing thinly and Jehan could feel her heartbeat slowing from where his hand was laid upon her chest, applying pressure to the wound. "Do not stop writing about the snow," she said. "It is just as beautiful as the new world which will dawn." Estelle convulsed sharply and painfully, coughing up some blood which coated her lips in red. "Tell me more about your friends," she whimpered, her eyes wide and gazing into his as if she were reading his soul.

"Y-you would love my friends," Prouvaire stuttered. "There's Combeferre who is the guide, and he's a wonderfully intelligent man who saves lives and is fascinated by moths. Joly, who turns 23 this Monday, studies medicine like Combeferre and I'm not sure if he loves Bossuet, Musichetta or both. Bossuet and Bahorel never fail to make me laugh, and just today Bossuet, a slightly clumsy fellow, broke a glass while arm wrestling. I know you'd get on well with Musichetta, you seem quite similar. She has a fiery temper but can be fiercely kind and loyal and will protect all of her friends. Marius is my age and spends most of his life stalking a girl he calls Ursula, and Feuilly is a working man who I admire very, very much. Then there's Grantaire, who is undoubtedly a cynic and a drunkard but believes wholly in Enjolras, and his unconditional love is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Enjolras is the leader and I will follow him to the end, whether it's to a successful revolution or my death... R calls him Apollo and I think that's a very accurate representation of him. And Courfeyrac is the centre, the heart. I love him more than he knows I do- "

Throughout Jehan's comforting speech he realised that Estelle's heart was beating slower and the blood from her wound wasn't flowing as fast. Now she had closed her eyes and was motionless. "Estelle?" he whispered. "Estelle- help!" he shouted the last part, begging for someone, anyone, to come and save her life. "S'il vous plaît! Elle meurt!"

He felt her freezing hand. It had stopped trembling.

Jehan put his ear near her mouth, desperately hoping to hear or feel the warm breath he knew wouldn't be there. He let go of her hand and it fell lifelessly by her side.

The poet sobbed and stood up abruptly, inexplicably wanting to run away from the sight of the dead body of a woman he couldn't save. Her glazed eyes stared emptily up into the snow, which covered her now cold body in a thin white blanket. Jehan, feeling dizzy, leant against the wall of the alley.

A charming, disgustingly cheerful voice emerged from the shadows. "What have we here?"


	2. Rage against the dying of the light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,  
> And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,  
> Do not go gentle into that good night."  
> \- Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, Dylan Thomas

A dark figure approached Jehan.

He was not any older than twenty, with a youthful, pretty face and green eyes which spoke of horror and seemed to glint maliciously in the night. His lips were red like cherries and his black hair was slicked back under a smart black hat. Over his shoulder rested an expensive-looking, thick jacket which he carried casually, as if he cared little for the biting cold, and in his other hand he carried a pretentious-looking cane. The man had the air of a dandy or a gamin, but he seemed to be more than that – he was a gamin turned vagabond, and a vagabond turned assassin. From the scars on his face and the knife he had sheathed at his belt, Jehan could tell that he was a deadly criminal, perhaps a member of the infamous Patron-Minette. And it seemed that, despite his age, he already had several corpses on his track.

Jehan slowly backed away from Estelle's body, rather stupidly going further down the alley so that he was now cornered. He glanced remorsefully at the dead girl and then looked pleadingly at the stranger. "I- I didn't kill her," he said, voice trembling. "I can explain."

The man laughed good-naturedly, but his laughter seemed off, as if he were making fun of Jehan – or as if he knew something he didn't. "I'm sure you didn't," he replied, nonchalantly leaning his elbow on the cane he carried. He gave Jehan a kind of suspicious, all-knowing look, raising his eyebrows as if he didn't believe him. "I could report you, Prouvaire," he continued, and the poet's eyes widened.

"No – I swear I didn't – I wanted to help–" Jehan stuttered, nervously tucking his long hair behind his ears. Then it dawned on him; the criminal had used his last name. How on earth did he know it? "Wait a moment… how do you know my name?" he asked, already looking for an escape route from the alleyway. There were none. Great. Now he was stuck here with a possible murderer, in an alley where a girl had just been killed, in the part of Paris where no one cared enough to help if they heard screams.

The man grinned – and Jehan wasn't sure if the smile was flirtatious, teasing or simply mad. Perhaps it was a mixture of all three. He couldn't deny that, despite how dangerous he appeared, this stranger was charming – he faintly reminded Jehan of Enjolras, if he had taken a different path, or perhaps Courfeyrac. But Jehan didn't want to think about how good-looking the man was; after all, it was likely he was about to kill him. "I am rather… familiar, you could say, with a friend of yours, and I've seen you with him before. In fact, why don't you give my regards to a Monsieur de Courfeyrac? Tell him last night was very entertaining, that we should do it again sometime, and that I hope he has recovered nicely. Send him love from Montparnasse." He smiled the same nasty, sick grin again and Jehan's stomach turned over.

Montparnasse.

He was infamous. The leader of the Patron-Minette gang was known for being controlling, manipulative and murderous… and Jehan was standing right in front of him. Recently, Courfeyrac had been warning him about walking alone at night, and now he saw why.

 _Oh mon Dieu,_ he thought. _What has Courfeyrac gotten himself into? What has he gotten_ me _into?_

However, Jehan couldn't stop himself from feeling a burning jealousy at Montparnasse's words. Had Courf slept with every man and woman in Paris? Did he not care for his safety? What the hell was he doing with a notorious criminal?

Looking over at Estelle again, Jehan closed his eyes and breathed deeply. And if his breathing was slightly panicked and ragged, he ignored it. He could feel an impending sense of doom – and Montparnasse was making him incredibly uncomfortable. He needed to escape before he was assaulted or, God forbid, killed like the poor girl. "Ok… ok, I'll just be going then," Prouvaire muttered, trying to push past the criminal, feeling bad for leaving Estelle's body out here, abandoned in the snow, but fearing for his own life.

Montparnasse let him walk past for a moment, cruelly giving him hope, then in one swift movement he dropped his jacket and cane, grabbed Jehan's arm and pulled him back, shoving him against the wall. The student gave a pained shout and struggled a bit until he felt something cool and sharp against his neck.

The knife glinted silver in the dark.

Jehan gasped and suddenly stilled.

"No, I don't think you will," Montparnasse said smoothly. He lightly pressed the blade into the other's neck, not too deep but enough that tiny drops of blood stained Jehan's white collar. The cut stung painfully and the poet winced but didn't dare move.

"Leave me alone," Jehan whispered. "What have I ever done to you?"

And it was true. Jean Prouvaire was the most innocent of all the Amis – he was good, and pure. He wrote poetry about love and played the flute. In the summer he grew flowers on the balcony of his apartment and weaved them into his friends', his mother's and childrens' hair. If Jehan ever did anything to deserve this then Enjolras worshipped Grantaire.

"You haven't done anything to me," the criminal sneered. "But de Courfeyrac has. So I want to hit him–" at this he punched Jehan in the gut, making him double over "-where it hurts. By hurting his weak, pathetic little boyfriend."

Despite the fact that it was used as an insult, Jehan couldn't stop himself from feeling victorious because Montparnasse had called Courfeyrac his boyfriend. He wished it was true, though. "Really… mature," Jehan said sarcastically. He grimaced as Montparnasse punched him in the face, making his nose bleed. More blood poured onto his shirt. _Damn it, I liked that shirt,_ Prouvaire thought fleetingly. "Very logical choice, beating up someone who's never offended you just to get revenge on your lover."

The word 'lover' felt sour on his tongue. The gang member's words from earlier were still spinning around in his mind. _Last night was entertaining, we should do it again sometime, I hope he's recovered nicely. We should do it again sometime._ Again, Jehan felt like he might vomit.

Montparnasse looked angry and slightly humiliated… that wasn't a good sign. "You have no idea what he's done, do you? Your precious Courf is a lying, cheating bastard."

Jehan's heart clenched. He could tolerate being insulted, but when someone insulted his friends – especially Courfeyrac – well, he wasn't terrified of Montparnasse anymore. He was furious. But a tiny part of him still wondered if it was true – did the law student have a different, darker side to him? He was romantically involved with a murderer… did he have multiple lovers? Did Jehan mean nothing to him?

Jehan spat on Montparnasse's shiny, polished shoes. " _Va te faire foutre_ ," he said bravely (or perhaps stupidly). The French Literature student felt proud of himself for standing up for himself and his Amis, and also for using such crude language. He rarely swore but when he did it was satisfying.

"You'll regret that," Montparnasse hissed, and regret it he did. In the space of one second, the criminal dragged Jehan onto the ground by his hair and kicked him in the stomach with his boot. It was pain like he had never felt before and, as Montparnasse kicked him over and over again, each time harder and harder on his ribs, Jehan coughed and gasped. He tried to fight back by extending his foot out to trip the other over, but it didn't work and he just spasmed with pain, blood dripping from his nose, from his chest, and from his mouth as he coughed it up.

"Stop," he moaned. "Please… "

"No one's coming to save you," Montparnasse murmured in Jehan's ear. He caressed the poet's cheeck almost affectionately, or perhaps regretfully, as if he really didn't want to hurt him. Jehan flinched back, expecting to be hit again. "Your lover boy doesn't care about you now. You're _nothing_."

And then Jehan could only watch, eyes wide, as the infamous leader of the Patron-Minette reached for his knife again – and then there was complete agony as it pierced his stomach.

Jehan couldn't even scream.

All he did was make a pained gurgling sound as he spat up some blood and grasped at the weapon embedded in his body. He didn't remove it, but instead stared up into the eyes of a vengeful, triumphant Montparnasse. His vision was already turning dark, and he forced himself to not pass out.

"I killed the girl too," the criminal boasted. "But not before I took away her virginity… and I must say, she was a good fu-"

He was interrupted by an enraged shout from Prouvaire, who tried to sit up, ready to strangle Montparnasse to death with his bare hands for committing such an awful crime against such a beautiful woman – but Jehan fell back, his agony catching up with him. White hot flares of pain struck him and he bit his tongue to stop himself from screaming and giving Montparnasse the satisfaction of knowing he'd won.

All of a sudden, there were footsteps crunching in the snow from outside the alley, and Jehan's heart soared. Finally, someone was here to help him. He was saved. He would live.

"Help!" he yelled hoarsely, crying out as Montparnasse slapped him and then pulled the knife out of his stomach, wiping the blood on his trousers. Jehan saw purple stars and tried his hardest to stay awake. From his minimal medical knowledge he knew it was never a good idea to pull out a knife. _Oh God, I'm going to bleed to death in this alleyway_ , he thought.

"Shut up," the criminal hissed. "You're going to get me caught."

The footsteps got closer and sped up. Montparnasse, deciding that it was no longer worth it to stay, hurriedly grabbed the cane and jacket he had earlier dropped and fled in the opposite direction. Jehan's saviour didn't bother following him and instead appeared at the entrance to the alleyway.

"Oh mon Dieu!" the person exclaimed… and his voice was surprisingly familiar. He rushed to Jehan's side and, with shaking hands, applied pressure to the wound. Jehan blinked up at the familiar stranger, dazed, to see a head of curly hair and dark eyes which often inspired his poems. "Mon ami," Courfeyrac cried. "I'm sorry! This is all my fault!"

"No-" Prouvaire gasped, grasping the other student's hand with his own, soaking it in blood but not caring. "It is the fault of none but Montparnasse. I do not blame you, mon amour."

Courfeyrac nodded frantically, tears in his eyes. "Don't you dare die on me, Jean Prouvaire. You're too young and beautiful to die. If you must die, let it be in the revolution, with a gunshot wound and a shout of 'Vive la France,' when we will bring peace to all of mankind…"

The blood started to merge into the snow, creating a sickening red painting the colour of alizarin crimson oil paints – and it joined with Estelle's crusted blood. Jehan sobbed.

"… and we'll fight for womankind as well, of course, and the gamins like Gavroche who roam the streets. Never again will anyone die like-"

"-Estelle," Jehan said breathlessly. "Remember her for me, will you?"

"No," Courfeyrac replied stubbornly. "I won't. You will be here to remember her, I promise you that."

Jehan glanced over at the lifeless girl who was blanketed by the snow. She looked like an angel.

Perhaps now he would be joining her.

Jehan could feel his strength fading. The snowflakes which fell were no longer cold, and his body was numb to the pain.

He closed his eyes, and didn't even feel the snow as it coated his eyelashes like it had done to Estelle before.

Courfeyrac screamed and cradled Jehan's still body in his hands.


End file.
